Warriors Rock with another way to heal PTSD in South Dakota

Warriors rock out

Brookings Register
By: John Kubal
Posted Dec 24, 2019

“I don’t feel like it’s fair that veterans who are not into hunting or outdoors not get the same opportunity through recovery with something that fits them more specifically.” Connie Johnson

Connie Johnson and Cole Hennen strum some guitar chords during a Warriors Rock session on Tuesday evening in the Christmas tree-decorated room at the Brookings Arts Council. Johnson, a combat veteran and Purple Heart recipient, is working with Kristina Gindo, a certified music therapist, in putting together a program aimed at teaching veterans the basics of playing guitar. John Kubal/Register

BROOKINGS – Connie Johnson, coordinator for Veterans Services at South Dakota State University and herself a combat veteran (Purple Heart recipient) who has battled post-traumatic stress disorder, is open to exploring avenues that have the potential for making life better for military veterans.

One of those avenues she’s now exploring and using to help others explore is music.

After she partnered with several local organizations and individuals, the end result is a new guitar-based music program for veterans called Warriors Rock.
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#LoveInAction Veterans adopting older and hard to adopt dogs from shelters

Blind, Deaf Dog Inspires Man to Pair Dozens of Recovering Veterans With Hard-to-Adopt Shelter Pups

Good News Network
By Dobi Finley
Dec 21, 2019

This veteran-run nonprofit has been pairing ex-service members suffering from isolation and PTSD with senior dogs rescued from overcrowded shelters where they could potentially be euthanized.

Because many veterans live alone without family or friends nearby, they can often become isolated and lonely from the lack of connection. As some veterans also suffer with post traumatic stress disorder, their social interactions can also become difficult.

That’s when the Vet Friends Foundation can step in with a helping hand. The organization delivers companionship to both the vets and the senior shelter dogs who need caring homes to live out the rest of their lives.

Joel Rockey, the Foundation’s founder, says that he came up with the idea for the organization after spending five years in the Navy in Iraq and Afghanistan. When Rockey returned home from his deployment, he wanted to focus on something he felt truly passionate about.
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Sen. Jeanne Shaheen wants answers for New Hampshire providers of veterans outsourced care

New Hampshire health care providers face long waits for VA reimbursement

New Hampshire Union Leader
By Josie Albertson-Grove
December 20, 2019

“If providers can’t trust that they will be paid in a timely manner, then ultimately it is our veterans who suffer as these providers drop out of the network,” Shaheen wrote, “and veterans receive fewer options for care.”

U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. KIMBERLEY HAAS/Union Leader Correspondent

WASHINGTON — At least a dozen New Hampshire health care providers are waiting for payments from the Veterans Administration, according to Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s office. One hospital executive estimated the VA owes about $130 million to providers across the state.

Veterans who get health insurance through the VA do not always get treatment at VA facilities. If a veteran lives too far from a VA hospital, is facing a long wait at the VA, or needs specialized care that their local VA hospital does not offer, he or she can go to another local health care provider. These non-VA providers are known as the Community Care Network. A veteran gets care at one of these providers, and the VA reimburses the provider.

Shaheen’s office has heard complaints from numerous community care network providers across the state about long waits for reimbursement from the VA. Last week, the senator penned a letter to Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie last week, expressing concern about the delayed payments, and the backlog she said had caused them. read it here

Caught ripping off the VA

Two creeps ripped off VA...and disabled veterans

In a media release, prosecutors said Francis Engles, 63, owned and operated Engles Security Training School. In 2015, the school became a vendor for the VA’s Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment program, according to the release, promising veterans months-long courses totaling 600 hours....Prosecutors said he also had veterans sign attendance sheets for classes they did not attend and submitted letters to the department falsely stating that veterans were employed by his private security business. The VA paid him $337,960 to educate veterans.
Capital Gazette

In a news release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California said Peter Wong, 61, the founder of Sunrise Shoes and Pedorthic Service, a longtime specialized orthopedic shoe and prosthetic store, was found guilty in May of health care fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Wong and Anthony Lazzarino, 69, the former chief of podiatry for the VA’s Northern California health care system, were charged in 2016 with billing the VA for custom products that were prescribed but never supplied to veterans between 2008 and 2015...Their grand jury indictment said they billed the VA nearly $1.7 million worth of shoes, some costing $1,682 per pair, but veterans didn’t get the specialized footwear and instead received shoes straight off the shelves from Sunrise Shoes. Sacramento Bee

Leavenworth VA Hospital sexually molested veterans win in court

U.S. Pays $7 Million To Veterans Who Were Sexually Molested At The Leavenworth VA Hospital

KMUW News
By DAN MARGOLIES
DEC 13, 2019

Dan Curry, a Kansas City lawyer who represented the veterans, said the $6.97 million settlement has been apportioned among the 82 plaintiffs. A former Jackson County judge, Jay Daugherty, determined how much each veteran received.

Eighty-two veterans who were sexually abused by a former physician assistant at the VA hospital in Leavenworth have settled their lawsuits against the government for nearly $7 million.

One of his earliest victims committed suicide not long after the VA police interviewed him about Mark Wisner. This was years before Wisner physically assaulted more than 90 veterans. Someone needed to connect the dots.”

Mark Wisner was convicted of sexual battery and sexual assault. CREDIT ATCHISON COUNTY DETENTION CENTER

The physician assistant, Mark Wisner, was convicted in 2017 of aggravated sexual battery and aggravated criminal sodomy and sentenced to 15 years and seven months in prison.

At his jury trial, four former patients at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center testified that Wisner had groped and molested them while giving them physical exams.

Dozens of lawsuits filed by his victims alleged the U.S. government, which operates the VA hospital, knew or should have known that Wisner was a danger to patients, had a history of providing improper medical care and had previously victimized patients.

One of those lawsuits said Wisner had been convicted of a sex-related crime in 1987 and had been reported for sexually inappropriate conduct by a Kansas nurse in 1999. It also said he was the subject of complaints by VA patients in 2011, 2012 and 2014.
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Disabled veteran fought for his service dog rights...and all others

‘Service animal’ signs going up at Hillsborough parks after veteran files suit

Tampa Bay Times
By Christopher O'Donnell
Published 4 hours ago

The county recently reached a settlement in the suit that requires posting “service animals are welcome” at all 200 or so of its parks. The county must also ensure that information about service animals is included in annual employee training about accommodations required for disabled people under federal and state law.

Cesar Silva and his 7-year-old service dog Sophia visit Rotary Riverfront Park in Temple Terrace on Tuesday. A disabled Iraq war veteran, Silva takes Sophia with him everywhere but ran into trouble with a park ranger during a 2016 visit to Veteran’s Memorial Park. [OCTAVIO JONES | Times]

It started with a heated encounter between Cesar Silva, who has disabilities, and a park ranger. Silva helped bring about the same changes at city parks in 2013.

TAMPA — Sophia, a bright eyed 7-year-old German shepherd, is Cesar Silva’s constant companion.

A disabled Army veteran, Silva struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder and physical injuries that affect his balance. Sophia is trained to get help if he falls. She will gently nudge him and distract him when he’s overwhelmed.

Sophia was with Silva when he and partner Samantha Tapia visited Veteran’s Memorial Park and Museum on U.S. 301 in Tampa in May 2016. Their arrival caught the attention of park ranger Roger Cramer who questioned why Silva had parked in a disabled spot and why Sophia, wearing her service dog vest, was not on a leash.

Silva, 38, has a disability symbol on his license plate. He explained that he doesn’t always use a leash because his balance problems put him at risk of falling, an exemption allowed by state law.

That did not satisfy Cramer, according to Silva. As the discussion became heated, Cramer called the couple combative and refused their request for his name and title. Tapia said she felt afraid and called the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
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Did you return veteran's wallet in Tampa Florida?

A stranger's good deed lands Florida veteran his wallet

By: WFTS Digital Staff
Dec 07, 2019

"I see so much negativity out there about people," said McCormick. "I wanted to make public that here’s a guy that for no reason at all, except that he was a good guy, just stopped and brought home something that he didn’t have to do."

TAMPA, Fla. — A Tampa man's mistake could have cost him big, but a stranger's kind gesture saved the day.

Joe McCormick says a routine trip to the grocery store nearly put his entire identity at risk. He dropped his wallet while shopping at Winn-Dixie on Swann Avenue.

“Driver’s license, military ID, veterans ID, medicare card, car insurance," said McCormick. "Everything that you need to have to get through life was in that, I had no idea I had even lost it."

Not long after returning to his home on Davis Islands, an unexpected knock came at the front door.

A man McCormick describes as in his 20s, driving a blue four-door sedan returned his wallet.
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VA clinic sharing space with funeral home no longer a good idea?

New VA clinic in Niagara Falls won't share space with a funeral home after all

Buffalo News
By Thomas J. Prohaska
December 8, 2019

"It just sends a bad message" Krause said. "We're going to go in the front door and go out the back door?"

A VA clinic will now have the entire space at 1300 Pine Ave. in Niagara Falls, rather than share quarters with a funeral home. (Google image)

When veteran Robert Krause heard that the new Veterans Administration outpatient medical clinic in Niagara Falls would share a building with a funeral home, he and other veterans were unhappy.

"It just sends a bad message" Krause said. "We're going to go in the front door and go out the back door?"

But now it's the funeral home that has gone out the door.

Spallino-Amigone Funeral Home has moved out of its longtime location at 1300 Pine Ave., leaving the entire building to the VA.

Some local veterans were glad to see that, feeling that it was just a bad look for a medical clinic to share space with a funeral home.

"It just didn't seem right, Krause said. "A lot of us were planning to go somewhere else."

Anthony Amigone Jr., president of the Amigone Funeral Home chain, said Spallino-Amigone moved to Military Road in the Town of Niagara about two months ago.

He said the move was requested by the new owner of 1300 Pine, Acquest Development of Williamsville.
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Female veterans it is no longer acceptable to be forgotten warriors!

Female veterans it is no longer acceptable to be forgotten warriors! Isn't it time that your service mattered as much as the male veterans? Isn't it time that you received the same attention to your needs and wounds?

Hell, it isn't as if women did not fight since the Revolutionary War! Considering that women have earned ever medal for service, including the Medal of Honor after the Civil War, you deserve a lot more than you have been getting.

Point Man International Ministries is coming to the New Hampshire-Maine border just for you! My husband and I moved from Florida to Rochester New Hampshire. Point Man has asked me to open the first Out Post for female veterans. While I am not a veteran, the need is so great that we can no longer wait to find a female veteran to take the lead on this.

The goal is to begin to train women veterans from all generations to open their own Out Post and Home Fronts for families.

Consider the following and begin to understand why we can no longer wait for someone else to do it.

The need for female veterans is growing and will continue to grow as more women enter the military.

Military.com had this in 2019 report With Historic Number of Women in Uniform, the Vet Community Is About to Change

In fact, the number of women in the armed services -- and subsequent veteran population -- is rapidly increasing. According to the Defense Department, women now make up 20 percent of the Air Force, 19 percent of the Navy, 15 percent of the Army and almost 9 percent of the Marine Corps.

Women now make up approximately 10 percent of the current veteran population, the fastest-growing demographic. The number of female veterans treated at the VA almost tripled between 2000 and 2015. As a result of this rapid growth, the VA experienced difficulty meeting the clinical needs of female veterans at all sites of care.

For 2017 according to the VA report on Female Veterans 8,541 lived in New Hampshire and 9,103 lived in Maine.

And another report from the VA in 2018 focusing on female veterans indicated that "between 2005 and 2015 female veterans between the age of 35 and 54 had higher suicide rates than those in other age groups. While we seem fixated on the rise of veteran suicides in general, the most shocking find was that for male veterans the rate went up 35.3 but the rate for female veteran suicides went up 45.2 percent.

It is no longer a matter of we need to do better. It has become we have to do better right now and we have had enough years to get this right! Contact Kathie Costos at 407-754-7526 email woundedtimes@aol.com

Veteran Navy Corpsman returned home to shocking event

Veteran surprised with thousands of Christmas lights, decorations

FOX 13 News
By Kimberly Kuizon
December 4, 2019

SARASOTA, Fla. - A local veteran got quite the surprise when he returned home to find his house totally decorated for Christmas on Tuesday.

Volunteers with Florida Power & Light decorated veteran Chris Scott's home with thousands of lights. After untangling all the lights and preparing a big surprise, Chris and his family arrived.

Chris served eight years as a fleet marine force corpsman attached to the 3rd Battalion 2nd Marines. In 2008, he'd been injured in Iraq, but he continued serving. He was deployed to Afghanistan and Haiti before he medically retired in 2012.

For the last two years, he's fought stage three lymphoma cancer. He's now clear, but putting up Christmas decorations can be a difficult task.

"They wanted to get lights up so we were going to start to try and work on it this week. I haven't been feeling too good lately so this is helps out a lot," he said.

Volunteers didn't disappoint, making sure their house shines bright.
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After two months, Wounded Times is back in operation

Wounded Times is back

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
December 1, 2019

After two months, Wounded Times is back in operation...although right now, I do believe only part of my brain arrived in our new home.

September 30th was our 35th anniversary. It was also the day we closed on our old home and headed up north. When the movers closed the door to the truck, we got into the car without a clue where we would end up living.

We headed to a La Quinta because they allow dogs and then I thought about how strange life was. It was our anniversary and I was unemployed because of the move. We were also basically homeless since the house we thought we were going to buy did not do well on the inspection. We had to start the search all over again.

The thought of all of this should have freaked me out but I cracked up laughing. Then I blurted out,"35th anniversary...I am unemployed and homeless! Yahoo! Road trip for our second honeymoon~We knew we had to do this so that we could live closer to our daughter.

I had to leave my job at Fidelity National Title and everyone on our team in Timeshares. After 5 years it was very hard leaving them since they were more than coworkers...they were family too.

Here is the catch up.

Our first real estate agents in Florida sucked big time! The house was over priced and they were not interested in earning their commission. (Never deal with people you think are supposed to be your friends.) The pictures were horrible and they stopped returning my phone calls. Long story short, I had to get a lawyer to get them to cancel the contract. We lost two months with them.

We got another agent Wes Garrison of ReMax and he knew what he was doing so well that he sold the house in less than 2 weeks. He also managed to keep me from losing my mind. He had a professional photographer show up with a drone and the pictures were so good, I was amazed our house could look like that...and we lived there for 15 years.

We lost count on how many people came to see it, but the best part of all is that the buyers were actually people we knew and very glad to know they are in the home we loved.

After we signed the agreement, Hurricane Humberto was going up the east coast, so we had to wait to fly to New Hampshire to find a house. We thought we found a great one just across the Maine border, made an offer, and flew back home. 

The inspection turned out to be lousy and we had to walk away. Since we had already agreed to sell our house, we did not want to go back on our word, so we started packing...and sweating it out.

On the move side we had Catherine Allen of Keller Williams Coastal Realty. Moving over 1,600 miles away is hard, but after the mess the first selling agent put us in, Catherine was a true blessing! She got me through all that with some sanity left, got me through the inspection on the house in Maine killing the deal and then when it was time to search again, she had what we wanted all lined up. 

We spent the first week of October on the road. Then we stayed with our good friends for two more weeks. We started looking the second week in October. Some houses were OK but not what we wanted. 

This house had just listed a couple of days before we saw it and we offered their asking price. They said "yes" and mortgage broker Brad Kelly of Annie Mac and his team were able to get us to the closing table early in November in less than a month after we saw it.

Murray had to be boarded and we missed him so much that we picked him up and went to the Governor's Inn in Rochester. 

All of the staff made the stay memorable. It was amazing how people can be so nice that you can feel as if you are home. I was so comfortable there, I started walking around the grounds with just my socks on to have a cigarette. 

Murray started barking at the guests as if to say "get off my property" and I had a table in the bar for dinner every night since we had to eat in shifts so that Murray was not alone in the room.

It took two more weeks for our things to arrive from the movers and we are still unpacking.

Coming soon is an organized office so that I can find stuff again. Also coming is that Point Man has decided that I will start the first Out Post for female veterans in the area, especially since I am near the border of Maine. Hopefully I will find a location soon and I'll let you know when and where.

During all of this I have kept track of what has been going on with our veterans and I am more pissed off than ever! The news is terrible but too much is being accepted when none of what is going on should be accepted by anyone! With the national media and social media not paying attention to any of it, people run their mouths off with lies and slogans going unchallenged. The truth will only be known if we get as serious about sharing it as the liars have been for far too long.

Plan on daily updates as much as I can while we are still in the process of getting settled...and my brain resuming normal operations again, or at least as close as that can be.

Last post for Wounded Times

We're moving

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 30, 2019

My husband and I are moving back north, so this is the last post for a while. Not sure where we will move to, since the house we thought we would buy had some major problems. Great reason to have a home inspection done...even more important when the property is 1,600 miles away.

Today is a great day to start the journey, since it is also our 35th wedding anniversary.

For the last 15 years, I have attended some wonderful events for our veterans. Filming them was heartwarming, knowing how much veterans matter here. 

I had a great regular job too, working for a wonderful boss and team members who became family to me. My going away party was Friday, and all I wanted to do was cry. Some of us went into the conference room and they had a prayer circle for me. I never knew how much I impacted their lives, but I knew how much they impacted mine.

My boss talked about the work I do during and how important it is for me to be starting the Out Post with Point Man for female veterans in the Portsmouth area.

This picture was taken in Peru when Erica decided she would surprise me by wearing the PTSD Patrol T-shirt. She said that the message of empowerment fit with that stunning site.

There are a lot of things I will miss about Florida but there are more I miss about New England. I cannot think of a better time to begin the next part of our lives than today.

As an anniversary gift, I am asking for prayers for our journey and finding the home where we belong. It is a bit frighting not knowing where or when we will find it but I am comforted by the support and prayers already received. 

I will have more to say on this when I resume operation, hopefully by the end of October. 

Thank you for being loyal readers all these years!

72-year-old Marine Corps veteran died of "egregious neglect" at Minnesota "Care Center"

Ex-care center owner charged with manslaughter in Marine veteran’s death

The Associated Press
By: Steve Karnowski
September 24, 2019  

The second-degree manslaughter count cited the case of a 72-year-old Marine Corps veteran, identified only as R.M., who died last October of septic shock, an untreated urinary tract infection and other complications resulting from improper medical care and neglect. The investigators said doctors and nurses who treated him at a Duluth hospital just before his death found a “filthy” catheter and a 1-square-foot pressure sore on his tailbone that was draining a “foul smelling liquid,” a wound they said resulted from “utter, complete neglect.”

(thinkstock.com)

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota’s attorney general’s office said Tuesday that it has charged 10 people with 76 criminal counts following an investigation into the death of a 72-year-old man and what it described as egregious neglect of other patients at a northern Minnesota care center.

The most serious charges include racketeering, swindling and manslaughter counts against Theresa Lee Olson, 43, the former owner of the now-closed center, Chappy’s Golden Shores in Hill City. Olson is also accused of bilking the state’s Medicaid program out of nearly $2.2 million. The facility had been the subject of repeated disciplinary and administrative actions by the Minnesota Department of Health and the Department of Human Services, the attorney general’s office said.

“My office is holding these defendants accountable for what we believe we can prove is systematic, intolerable abuse and neglect that in one case led to death, not to mention widespread fraud, theft, and other charges that hurt everyone,” Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement.
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Nursing assistant accused of ripping off disabled amputee veteran with PTSD and dementia

Nursing Assistant Accused Of Taking Money From Disabled Veteran

Patch.com
By D'Ann Lawrence White, Patch Staff
Sep 25, 2019

BAYONET POINT, FL — A 38-year-old nursing assistant was arrested after Pasco County Sheriff's deputies said she took money from a disabled veteran with dementia.

A 38-year-old nursing assistant was arrested after Pasco County Sheriff's deputies said she stole money from a disabled veteran with dementia. (Pasco Sheriff)

Allyn Lopez of Shade Street Court in Hudson was charged with exploitation of the elderly/disabled Tuesday after the sheriff's office said she had her patient write two checks to her totaling $6,000.

The patient, who is also an amputee, was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and dementia in 2017. The sheriff's office said Lopez befriended the patient while working as a certified nursing assistant from October 2016 and July 2019 at the Bayonet Point assisted living facility where he lives.
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Michigan disabled Navy veteran asked for help and got more than he expected

‘You’re not forgotten’: Michigan residents respond to disabled Navy veteran’s Craigslist ad

Lansing State Journal
Kristan Obeng, Published
Sept. 18, 2019

OLIVET – The brain surgery Jeffrey Hempel underwent in August left the Navy veteran a physically changed man in need of assistance.

Jeff Hempel, 69, recovers at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota after brain surgery in this undated photo. (Photo: Nora Hempel)

His tongue swelled, muffling his words.

The double vision that resulted post-surgery has prevented him from driving.

He no longer has the mobility needed to haul water and feed the 50 chickens, two goats and various rabbits on his 15-acre property in Olivet.

“My poor wife has to do everything,” Hempel said.

He decided he needed to sell his farm animals, a decision he struggled with.

“It’s hard on him because he loves ‘his girls’ as he calls (the animals),” Hempel’s wife, Nora, said.

The 69-year-old also found he could no longer chop and stack his own firewood, something he had been doing for 30 years.

Not wanting to be a burden, Hempel did something he rarely did: He asked for help.

Hempel posted an ad on Craigslist asking for help gathering and chopping firewood. The response was more than he expected. He received help from people across Michigan within 48 hours.

Two non-profits catering to military veterans united to help Hempel after discovering his Craigslist ad.

“(Jeff) said he called different organizations to get help, and they kept passing him around like a dollar bill,” stated Ed Henley of Fishing It Forward, a group that takes veterans fishing.

Morgan’s Hugs also wanted to ensure Hempel got the help he needed.

The organization was started by Morgan Scarbo, a 15-year-old whose father is a disabled veteran, according to the teenager’s mother, Deborah Scarbo.

“We just try to help veterans as best as we could,” said Deborah Scarbo. “Another friend, Trish Barker and her granddaughter, Lexi, are going to be delivering groceries we got for him. It’s a big team of people trying to help.”

The goal for both non-profits is to provide Hempel with enough firewood for two years, according to Henley.

Firefighters from the Springport Fire Department also assisted by transporting some of the firewood using their personal vehicles.

Another organization, New Horizon, provided meals to volunteers helping Hempel.

“It was unbelievably generous,” Hempel said. “I’m just shocked. I’m humbled.”
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Evicted-Paralyzed veteran, lost everything and then his community supplied love

Disabled veteran loses his possessions in a curbside fire after his eviction

WWMT Newschannel 3
by CALLIE RAINEY
September 17th 2019

Summey said the community was also quick to offer help, after he posted a picture of the burned belongings on social media. "Pretty amazing, within minutes hundreds of messages people wanting to know what they could do to help," Summey said.

STURGIS, Mich. (WWMT) — The contents of his apartment were stacked on the curbside, but before a disabled veteran who once called Quail Run II his home could move the belongings, someone doused the pile with gasoline and lit a match.

"I seen him, he was sitting in his chair. He didn't want to leave his stuff. I can understand, that's all your possessions," said Clint Parsons, who lives near the apartment complex.

Parsons said the gentleman, a U.S. Air Force veteran, told him his rent hadn't been paid in almost a year, even though he had a caregiver who was supposed to be handling his affairs.

According to Disability Attorneys of Michigan in 2015 there were 82,952 homeless people in Michigan, and 5,291 of those were veterans.

St. Joseph County Veterans' Affairs Director Stoney Summey said the county's transitional housing program provided secure, safe housing to 28 veterans throughout the first nine months of 2019.

Summey said the veteran who was evicted from Quail Run II on Friday, is paralyzed, and now brings to six the number of homeless veterans in St. Joseph County.
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VA debt collection practices remain “too clunky and too confusing”

VA concedes its debt collection systems leave veterans confused, frustrated

Military Times
By: Leo Shane III
September 18, 2019

“The resultant debts owed by veterans often cause severe financial hardships for veterans and their families,” said Shane Liermann, deputy national legislative director for benefits at Disabled American Veterans.

The Department of Veterans Affairs sent out more than 600,000 debt collection notices to veterans and their families in fiscal 2018. (Sgt. Alicia R. Leaders/Marine Corps)

Veterans Affairs officials acknowledged to lawmakers that the department’s debt collection practices remain “too clunky and too confusing” to ensure families aren’t left in financial jeopardy. And they promised additional reforms within the next year.

“We are too often fragmented, uncoordinated and highly variable in our processes,” said Jon Rychalski, chief financial officer for the Department of Veterans Affairs, told members of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee on Thursday. “Frankly, we have a way to go before we can declare success.”

Last fiscal year, VA overpayments to veterans totaled roughly $1.6 billion, on par with mistakes in previous years.

The cases include mistakes in disability payouts after beneficiary information is updated, payments that conflict with other federal benefits like drill pay, changes in college enrollment that lower GI Bill eligibility, and simple math errors by department employees.
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VA Hospice nurse accused of taking morphine from dying veterans leaving them suffering in pain

Former nurse charged for allegedly stealing morphine from dying veterans

ABC News
By ELLA TORRES
Sep 18, 2019

In one case, a veteran experienced increased difficulties breathing and increased suffering in his final days, federal prosecutors said, citing its investigation into the matter.

A former hospice nurse has been accused of ingesting morphine that was meant for dying veterans and, in turn, causing increased suffering for some of the patients in their last days, officials said Wednesday.

Kathleen Noftle, 55, was arrested and charged for offenses she allegedly committed while working at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center campus in Bedford, Massachusetts, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in the state.

Noftle admitted to authorities that she mixed water from the sink with a portion of the liquid morphine to dilute the drug three times in January 2017, then gave the watered-down version to veterans and ingested the remaining amount for herself, according to the attorney’s office.

The investigation also revealed that before Noftle worked at the VA center in Bedford, she resigned from her position as a nurse at a different hospital because she did not follow protocol when throwing out narcotics on 60 occasions.
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Older caregivers waited longer to matter...will wait even long according to GAO

VA’s $900 Million Caregiver Program Bogged Down by Bad Data, IT Issues, GAO Finds

Military.com
By Patricia Kime
17 Sep 2019

The VA missed a progress deadline on building the needed system on Oct. 1, 2018, and the department will not be able to certify the system by Oct. 1, 2019, as required by Congress. This means that caregivers of veterans from the Vietnam War and earlier will not be able to apply as expected starting Oct. 1.

In this March 31, 2015, file photo, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center is shown in Portland, Oregon. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)

Inaccurate data kept by the Department of Veterans Affairs on its staff for the Family Caregiver Program and delays in the technology infrastructure needed to expand the program are hampering an effort to include the caregivers of injured veterans from World War II through Vietnam, a government watchdog agency has found.

The Government Accountability Office released a report Monday noting that the number of staff supporting the Family Caregiver Program at VA medical centers does not match the data kept by the program office -- an inaccuracy that prevents the VA from fully understanding the number of personnel that will be needed as the program grows.

The GAO also found that delays in implementing a new information technology system needed to support the program mean the expansion, mandated by Congress, is not expected for at least a year.

"The initial replacement for the Caregiver Application Tracker is not expected until late October 2019. Further, despite this initial deployment and additional releases expected through the summer of 2020, the department has not yet fully committed to a date by which it will certify that the new IT system fully supports the program," GAO analysts noted in the report.
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Veteran Navy Corpsman lost Tricare and told Bernie Sanders he would kill himself

UPDATE Veteran who contemplated suicide reunites with Bernie Sanders The Naval Air Force veteran said he was buried in medical debt.

Ailing Navy veteran tells Bernie Sanders at Nevada town hall: "I'm gonna kill myself"

CBS NEWS
SEPTEMBER 15, 2019

In a dramatic moment caught on video, an ailing Navy veteran struggling to pay off his medical bills said he was contemplating suicide while speaking at a Bernie Sanders town hall in Carson City, Nevada. The veteran, named John, said Friday his Tricare was taken away, leaving him with more than $130,000 worth of medical bills.

"How are you going to pay it off?" Sanders asked the veteran.

"I can't, I can't. I'm gonna kill myself!" John responded.

In a video clip captured by CBS News' Cara Korte that has now gone viral, John told Sanders that he served 20 years in the Navy, including tours in Kuwait and Somalia.

"I saved lives. I was a Navy corpsman," he said. "We take care of our own except now. My Tricare is not acceptable anymore, they took it away."

The veteran said he suffers from Huntington's disease, a genetic disorder that causes the breakdown of nerve cells in the brain. According to the National Institutes of Health, there is no treatment for the disease.
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